Acrylic glass

Get help and framing advice from the framing community
Post Reply
Knave_girl
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue 03 Aug, 2021 5:07 am
Location: Watford
Organisation: Knave
Interests: Wild swimming, hiking, walking the fog

Acrylic glass

Post by Knave_girl »

Though I have been warned off acrylics as difficult to use: attracting static and dust, I need to make up some frames to send through the post. There is a vast difference in price on the Wessex website. I am not interested in using Styrene but can anyone suggest which brand they get reasonable results from. I will be cutting myself on a Keencut excalibur.

Many thanks
User avatar
Rainbow
Posts: 891
Joined: Tue 23 Jun, 2015 8:51 am
Location: See my name, I'm somewhere over it
Organisation: Picture sales and framing
Interests: varied

Re: Acrylic glass

Post by Rainbow »

I only use acrylic very occasionally, but I've had 2mm extruded acrylic from Wessex in the past. Customers have been extremely pleased with it because they can't tell the difference from glass. I get it cut to size so I can't comment on how easy it is to cut.
Not your average framer
Posts: 11013
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Acrylic glass

Post by Not your average framer »

I don't use acrylic wery often as I am not a great fan of acrlic. Where customers need to use acrylic for reasons of safety, or avoiding excessive weight, I commonly encounter some serious price resistance, which can easily lead to customers to wanting to continue with the job and this is particularly true on larger sized items. In such cases I usually use pieces of acrylic glazing from my local hardware shop. This is not the anti-static stuff, but customers will often go for it to save money.

I never use the 2mm thick acrylic, because I don't think that it looks at all nice! Instead, I use the 4mm thick stuff, which is less likely to distort. It is worth bearing in mind that acrylic can be more time consumng to cut and break to size than normal glass. Also acrlic can be very useful for use in deep box frames, where it avoids the risk of customers breaking the glass while taking the frame home.

I am currently thinking about the possibility of selling some of my box frames and old fashioned style frames on the internet and whether this cheap acrylic may be a good idea for me to use acrlic glazing for mailing such frames.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
User avatar
Rainbow
Posts: 891
Joined: Tue 23 Jun, 2015 8:51 am
Location: See my name, I'm somewhere over it
Organisation: Picture sales and framing
Interests: varied

Re: Acrylic glass

Post by Rainbow »

I never use the 2mm thick acrylic, because I don't think that it looks at all nice!
I'm curious, Mark! In what way don't you think it looks nice and is it the Wessex acrylic? The 2mm acrylic I've had from Wessex has been branded Plexiglas and the protective sheet says it has a 30 year guarantee against yellowing, which always goes down well with customers, particularly if it's replacing an aged styrene. None of my customers who have had this acrylic have been able to distinguish it from 2mm glass, so I'm worried now in the light of what you've said that you're seeing something unpleasant that I'm missing!
Justintime
Posts: 1868
Joined: Sat 26 Sep, 2015 8:48 am
Location: West Wales
Organisation: George The Framer LLP
Interests: Gardening, design, electronic music, good food and beverages.
Contact:

Re: Acrylic glass

Post by Justintime »

Wessex have a booklet titled "All you need to know about specialist glass". I think you'd find it really informative.
I only buy it cut to size, as it's the same cost (I think?) and saves the extra handling. As far as static goes, once the protective sheets are removed I simply use a blower before fitting, wearing gloves, so no cleaning is necessary. If cleaning is necessary Lion sell Novus 1&2 which is a plastic cleaning and scratch remover set.
Don't forget that as well as bowing, acrylic also expands and contracts, so depending on its size, leave plenty of room in the rebate for this.
Expansion and contraction of acrylics has been discussed in depth on one of the facebook groups, probably Framers Only or framing.academy. Both of these groups have vast resources/libraries of info stored within them.
Justin George GCF(APF)
Insta: georgetheframer
Abacus
Posts: 673
Joined: Mon 29 Nov, 2010 12:20 pm
Location: Halifax, West Yorkshire
Organisation: Abacus Picture Framing and Gallery
Interests: Picture Framing, Furniture making.

Re: Acrylic glass

Post by Abacus »

Please don’t use styrene, it’s awful!
JFeig
Posts: 1285
Joined: Thu 23 Sep, 2004 8:31 pm
Location: Detroit, Michigan USA
Organisation: minoxy, LLC
Interests: non-fiction knowledge
Contact:

Re: Acrylic glass

Post by JFeig »

The dimensions of the frame will determine what thickness of acrylic to use. I have used 3mm(.118") - 4mm(.177") -6mm(.236") thickness acrylic depending on the size of the frame. I think that 2mm acrylic is just too thin for "professional custom framing".
Jerome Feig CPF®
http://www.minoxy.com
Not your average framer
Posts: 11013
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Acrylic glass

Post by Not your average framer »

I don't like 2mm acrylic, it just does not necessarily stay flat enough and if it's not flat enough, it can cause strange reflections. Other that that it is not as durable as the 4mm acrylic, which is less than ideal for deep box frames, where the is less support behind the acrylic, or less durability if the frames will need to be sent by post to the customer.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
User avatar
Rainbow
Posts: 891
Joined: Tue 23 Jun, 2015 8:51 am
Location: See my name, I'm somewhere over it
Organisation: Picture sales and framing
Interests: varied

Re: Acrylic glass

Post by Rainbow »

Thanks, Mark. I haven't noticed it myself, but perhaps I've only had to use it on smaller pictures where I suppose it's less likely to flex. The Plexiglas that I've had from Wessex seems rigid enough, but maybe it tends to flex over time, I don't know. Fortunately nobody's come back to me with a complaint yet!
Not your average framer
Posts: 11013
Joined: Sat 25 Mar, 2006 8:40 pm
Location: Devon, U.K.
Organisation: The Dartmoor Gallery
Interests: Lost causes, saving and restoring old things, learning something every day
Location: Glorious Devon

Re: Acrylic glass

Post by Not your average framer »

The thinner styrene looks dreadful, however I bought some 3mm thick styrene to make some covid safety screens at the start of the covid troubles and that looks much better and I've got some off cuts of that left, which I might try out to see what I think.
Mark Lacey

“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
Knave_girl
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue 03 Aug, 2021 5:07 am
Location: Watford
Organisation: Knave
Interests: Wild swimming, hiking, walking the fog

Re: Acrylic glass

Post by Knave_girl »

Thank you for all the helpful insights, especially glad to know about the expansion and contraction issue. All very much appreciated.
Post Reply